We
have now come to the
final part of our response.
Jesus did two other miracles which the OT ascribes to
Yahweh alone, such as cleansing people of leprosy and other infectious skin
diseases:
“And He was preaching in their synagogues throughout all
Galilee, and casting out demons. Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him,
kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, ‘If You are willing, You can make me
clean.’ Then Jesus, moved with
compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’ As
soon as He had spoken, IMMEDIATELY the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. And
He strictly warned him and sent him away at once, and said to
him, ‘See that you say nothing to anyone; but go your way, show yourself to the
priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded, as a
testimony to them.’ However, he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the matter, so
that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside in deserted
places; and they came to Him from every direction.” Mark 1:39-45
As well as forgive sinners,
“And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in
the house. Immediately many gathered together, so that there
was no longer room to receivethem, not
even near the door. And He preached the word to them. Then they
came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when
they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof
where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which
the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic,
‘Son, your sins are forgiven you.’ And some of the scribes were sitting
there and reasoning in their hearts, ‘Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God
alone?’ But immediately, when
Jesus perceived IN HIS SPIRIT that they reasoned thus within themselves, He
said to them, ‘Why do you reason
about these things IN YOUR HEARTS? Which is easier, to say
to the paralytic, “Your sins
are forgiven you,” or to say, “Arise, take up your bed and walk”? But
that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins’—He
said to the paralytic, ‘I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your
house.’ Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went
out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God,
saying, ‘We never saw anything like this!’” Mark 2:1-12
Hence, like Yahweh Jesus was able to heal all diseases such
as touch and cleanse a leper, forgive sins, and know what people were/are
thinking within their hearts:
Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was
a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the Lord
had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper. And the Syrians had gone out
on raids, and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel.
She waited on Naaman’s wife. Then she said to her mistress, ‘If
only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of
his leprosy.’ And Naaman went in and told his master, saying,
‘Thus and thus said the girl who is from the land of Israel.’ Then the
king of Syria said, ‘Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.’
So he departed and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing. Then
he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which said, Now be advised, when
this letter comes to you, that I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you
may heal him of his leprosy. And it happened, when the king of Israel read the
letter, that he tore his
clothes and said, ‘Am I God, to kill and make alive, that this man sends a man
to me to heal him of his leprosy? Therefore
please consider, and see how he seeks a quarrel with me.’ So it was, when
Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that
he sent to the king, saying, ‘Why have you torn your clothes? Please let him
come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.’ Then Naaman
went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha’s house. And
Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, ‘Go and wash in the Jordan seven times,
and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.’ But
Naaman became furious, and went away and said, ‘Indeed, I said to myself, “He
will surely come out to me, and
stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place,
and heal the leprosy.” Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the
rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in
them and be clean?’ So he turned and went away in a rage. And
his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, ‘My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have
done it? How much more then, when he says to
you, “Wash, and be clean”?’ So he went down and dipped seven
times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh
was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. And he
returned to the man of God, he and all his aides, and came and stood before
him; and he said, ‘Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth,
except in Israel; now therefore, please take a gift from your servant.’ But
he said, ‘As the Lord
lives, before whom I stand, I will receive nothing.’ And he urged him to take it, but he refused.” 2 Kings 5:1-16
{Sidenote: Pay close attention to the fact that Elisha
never went out to meet Namaan directly, nor did he touch or wave his hand over
the leprosy. This shows that the prophet had nothing to do with the healing,
except for passing on the instructions that God had given him. This way God got
the sole credit for the miracle. Besides, as a Torah-observant Israelite Elisha
was expressly forbidden from touching a person with leprosy or any other
infectious skin disease since such contact would have left him ceremonially
unclean before God [cf. Leviticus 5:1-6; 7:21; 13:45-46; Numbers 12:9-15; 2
Chronicles 26:16-21]. This is in marked contrasted with the Lord Jesus who,
instead of becoming defiled by such contact, was able to actually
miraculously cleanse such individuals by the power of his touch!}
“then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give
to everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone
know the hearts of all the sons of men)… When they sin against You (for there is no one who does not sin), and You
become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and they take them
captive to the land of the enemy, far or near; yet when they come to themselves in the
land where they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication to You
in the land of those who took them captive, saying, ‘We have sinned and done
wrong, we have committed wickedness’; and when they return to You with all their
heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who led them away
captive, and pray to You toward their land which You gave to their fathers, the
city which You have chosen and the temple which I have built for Your name: then
hear in heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplication, and
maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have
sinned against You, and all their transgressions which they have transgressed
against You; and grant them compassion before those who took them captive,
that they may have compassion on them.” 1 Kings 8:39, 46-50
“Would not God search this out? For He knows the secrets of the
heart.” Psalm 44:21
“Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His
benefits: Who forgives all
your iniquities, Who heals all
your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with
lovingkindness and tender mercies…He has not dealt with us according to our
sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high
above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who
fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our
transgressions from us. As a father pities hischildren, So the Lord pities those who fear Him.
For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.” Psalm 103:2-4, 10-12 – cf.
139:1-16; 1 Chronicles 28:9; Isaiah 43:25; Daniel 9:9; Micah 7:18-19
Here is what The
New Jerome Biblical Commentary says
in regard to Jesus possessing the ability to forgive sins:
“… According to several OT passages (Exod 34:6-7; Isa
43:25; 44:22), the one who
forgives sins is God. According to the reasoning of the scribes (they do
not say it directly; see 2:6, 8), Jesus’ claim to forgive sins would thus
qualify as blasphemy. Indeed,
it does constitute an implicit claim to divine authority – something perfectly acceptable to
early Christians who read Mark’s Gospel…” (Ibid., p. 602; bold emphasis ours)
The following Christian scholar does an excellent job of
summing all of this up:
“But it is also in his miracles that Jesus displays a
unique sense of deity. We must not view the miracles of Jesus as merely
evidence of a Spirit-empowered individual who acts on behalf of God. Rather,
all Jesus' miracles are set within the larger context of the inauguration of
the ‘age to come’ – something
which only God can do. The healing miracles are evidence of the arrival of
the messianic age (Luke 7:22-23; cf. Isa. 29:18; 35:5-6; 61:1). They are visible
manifestations of the presence of the supernatural rule of God coming in and
through Jesus. For example, the nature miracles are displays of the work of
God. In Matthew 8:23-27 we are told that Jesus exercises his authority over
nature. He speaks a word, and the storm instantly calms. But what would this
bring to mind for the Old Testament reader? It
would remind them of the Lord himself, who triumphs over the stormy sea (see
Ps. 107:23-32); cf. Job 9:8; Pss. 65:7; 77:19; Isa. 43:16; 51:9-10; Hab. 3:15).
“In a similar nature miracle when Jesus walks on the water
(Matt. 14:25; Mark 6:48; cf. John 6:19), Old
Testament readers would be reminded of the Lord who walks upon the sea (Job 9:8
LXX; cf. Ps. 77:19; Isa. 51:9-10). In fact, as the Gospels present this
account each one of them recounts how the disciples were filled with terror.
But, as Schreiner points out, ‘Jesus replies with the exact same words: ego eimi, me phobeisthe(‘I am;
do not fear’).’ As Schreiner rightly argues, in John's Gospel ego eimi is full of christological import and
hearkens back to ‘Exodus 3:14 and to texts in Isaiah that refer to the one and
only God (e.g., Isa. 41:10; 43:10; 45:18). Given John's Christology, it is
clear that Jesus is considered to be God–theos (John 1:1).’ That is why in the
Gospels the proclamation of th gospel of the kingdom is accompanied by many
miracles, healings and exorcisms of demons (Matt. 4:23; 9:35; 10:7-8; Luke
9:11; 10:9, 17; 11:20). In fact, Matthew 12:28 makes clear that Jesus'
exorcisms of demons by the power of the Spirit is proof-positive that God's
saving reign has now come to this world. Jesus' miracles, then, as Schreiner
correctly notes, ‘are signs of the kingdom, manifestations of the new
creation.’ In light of this, what is Jesus' self-understanding? It is this: he
is not only the Messiah but also the unique Son vis-à-vis his Father and thus
closely identified in authority and power with him.” (Stephen J. Wellum, The Deity of Christ, eds.
Christopher W. Morgan & Robert A. Peterson [Crossway, Wheaton, IL 2011], 3.
The Deity of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels, pp. 75-76; bold emphasis ours)
38 See Simon J. Gathercole, The Pre-existent Son: Recovering
the Christologies of Matthew, Mark, and Luke (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2006),
64. Gathercole states: ‘The reference to walking on the sea is a ‘theophany’
motif which is taken over from Yahweh to Jesus … For the moment, however, the
combination of the two passages showing Jesus' mastery of the sea (Matt.
14:22-23; Mark 6:45-52) points
very strongly to a close identification of him with Yahweh in the Old Testament.
(Ibid., p. 75; bold emphasis ours)
Even the Quran agrees that these are functions and
abilities which only God possesses:
And those who, when they do an evil thing or wrong
themselves, remember Allah and implore forgiveness for their sins – Who forgiveth sins save Allah only? – and will not knowingly repeat (the
wrong) they did. S. 3:135 Pickthall – cf. Q. 39:53
“… but (all this was) that God might test what is in your
breasts and purge what is in your hearts. For
God knoweth well the secrets of your hearts.” S. 3:154 Y. Ali
What makes this all the more ironic is that the Quran also
bears witness to the fact that Jesus performed all these same miracles that God
is supposed to perform when he comes to dwell on the earth!
“to be a Messenger to the Children of Israel saying, ‘I
have come to you with a sign from your Lord. I
will create for you out of clay as the likeness of a bird; then I will breathe into it, and it
will be a bird, by the leave of God. I
will also heal the blind and the leper, and bring to life the dead, by
the leave of God. I will inform you too of what things you eat, and what you
treasure up in your houses. Surely in that is a sign for you, if you are
believers.’” S. 3:49 Arberry
“When God said, 'Jesus Son of Mary, remember My blessing
upon thee and upon thy mother, when I confirmed thee with the Holy Spirit, to
speak to men in the cradle, and of age; and when I taught thee the Book, the
Wisdom, the Torah, the Gospel; and
when thou createst out of clay, by My leave, as the likeness of a bird, and
thou breathest into it, and it is a bird, by My leave; and thou healest the blind and the
leper by My leave, and thou bringest the dead forth by My leave; and
when restrained from thee the Children of Israel when thou camest unto them
with the clear signs, and the unbelievers among them said, “This is nothing but
sorcery manifest.”’” S. 5:110 Arberry
As if this weren’t enough to prove that Jesus is God in the
flesh, Christ also gave others the power and authority to perform miracles in
his glorious and majestic name!
“And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came
to Him. Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him
and that He might send them out to preach, and to have power
to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons:” Mark 3:13-15
“And He called the twelve to Himself, and began to send them out two by two, and
gave them power over unclean spirits… And
they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed
them.” Mark 6:7, 13
“Now John answered Him, saying, ‘Teacher, we saw someone
who does not follow uscasting out demons IN YOUR NAME, and we forbade
him because he does not follow us.’ But Jesus said, ‘Do not forbid him, for no
one who works a miracle IN MY
NAMEcan soon afterward speak evil of Me.’” Mark 9:38-39
Williams will not be able to cite a single example from the
Holy Bible – or the Quran for that matter – where an individual performs
miracles in the name of a prophet or angel with God’s approval.
In light of the foregoing, can there be any doubt that Mark
depicts Jesus as Yahweh God Incarnate? More importantly, how long shall
Williams continue to deny the plain and explicit evidence from Mark’s Gospel
that the reason Jesus does the works which both the Hebrew Bible and the Quran
testify that only God can do, is because Mark presents Jesus the LORD God whom
the prophets said was going to come and dwell on the earth?
All scriptural quotations taken from the New King James
Version (NKJV) of the Holy Bible.
Related Articles
IHS
